It began as something that has sadly become an almost routine occurrence - a bloody beating meted out to a man believed to be a soldier by a gang of youths who hang out near Holsworthy railway station.

But since that April incident, what should have been a footnote in the night log of Liverpool Police has taken on an extraordinary life of its own.

It will have caused disquiet among some of the most senior police and military officers in Sydney, many of whom are already asking: "Has a group of our most elite troops mounted their own Operation Revenge?"

According to one version of events, up to 40 masked commandos raided the homes of those they thought responsible for the original bashing, terrorising their families.

The alleged reprisals were reportedly sparked by the assault of an soldier after he intervened to help a woman being harassed by several Middle Eastern males at the railway station in April.

Holsworthy base personnel have confirmed that the claims are in circulation, but are treating the story with a mixture of concern and scepticism. However, The Sun-Herald has spoken to a security guard who says he found the wounded soldier, and to sources who insist the paybacks did take place.

An Australian Defence Force source, who spoke to The Sun-Herald on condition of anonymity, said several senior Holsworthy officers had been notified and briefed on the affair.

"It's suggested the matter started six or eight weeks ago with a woman at Holsworthy station being harassed by a number of men of Middle Eastern appearance," the source said.

"Another man, said to have been a soldier, intervened.

"He managed to deal with a couple of these blokes but, in the end, had the s*** kicked out of him.

"At the time, it's understood that he saw, wrote down or remembered the registration number of a car involved.

"It then goes that when he overcame his injuries, some week or two later, some of his mates got together and went and sorted these blokes out."

A number of officers from the base's elite 3RAR and 4RAR battalions had already been informally questioned but expressed no knowledge of the allegations, the ADF spokesman said.

"No-one has even turned up anything looking like this kind of incident," he said. "So far, we've drawn a complete blank."

Still, as a second Holsworthy insider said: "They're as thick as thieves in there [the barracks]. It doesn't matter which regiment they belong to, you have to understand, it's all for one and one for all. They all stick together no matter what."

Holsworthy station security guard Ray Fowler said he found the beaten soldier during one of his midweek shifts several weeks ago.

"It was about 10pm and I was doing my rounds when I suddenly found this guy lying just outside the station," he said.

"He was in a pretty bad way. I told him to lie still. I rang triple 0 and told him an ambulance was on its way.

"A little while later, police from Liverpool turned up and asked, `What do you know about it, Ray?'

"And I told them, `Absolutely nothing, I never saw it happen'.

"It turns out he got off the train and was waiting for a lift home when these guys suddenly pulled up in a car and, bang! he was robbed and bashed."

Holsworthy locals have since given their version of what allegedly followed. "Thirty of these crack commandos went out to Bankstown and Lakemba and busted all these Lebanese up," one said. "I know this because they told me.

"They did everyone over and demanded the names of the three Lebanese lads responsible for bashing their own fellow up.

"They also warned these guys that double the amount of trouble would come back if they didn't receive the information they wanted.

"As far as I know, these Lebanese then turned their own boys over because one of the army guys later said to me, `We got 'em, we got 'em'."

Senior police have been unable to shed any light on either the bashing or the alleged reprisals.

Sydney's Al-Bairak Lebanese and Arab newspaper yesterday launched its appeal after receiving a panicked call from a reader claiming that his home and that of his neighbour had been invaded by masked men.

Editor Fernando Francis said the caller said the attacks had happened at Greenacre and Punchbowl.

"Lebanese people by nature are not the sort of people to be intimidated or silenced and this is why this particular call shocked me," he said.

"This did not sound like your average home invasion. It was something far more sinister."

He said the reader had claimed: "They are invading our houses. My house has been invaded by men in masks and my neighbour's house too."

Mr Francis said that when he tried to get the caller's name and address, the man was too scared to continue.

"I'm still waiting to hear back from him and this concerns me greatly," he said.

These things happen. Here in my neighborhood an elderly man was walking through the park one night. He was attacked by three young black men who did a pretty good job on him. There was no way he could identify them, so He didn't even bother to report the incident. But a few weeks later he met one of them in another part of town. While he still couldn't give enough information for the police to do anything, he knew he was looking at his assailant. What's more, the other guy recognized him too. So my friend devised a plan. First, he got a gun and started carrying it. Then, the next time he met his quarry (for that was now what he was) he made eye contact and spoke to him. After a couple of similar meetings, he challenged the young man to meet him somewhere where they wouldn't be bothered by police. When the kid showed up, my friend pulled the gun and, with cable ties, handcuffed the young punk. He then put the gun away and proceeded to beat the livin' tar out of him. Before he left, he took some ID off the kid and then cut him loose. Since then, he's had no problems, either with young black kids or his conscience.

"It then goes that when he overcame his injuries, some week or two later, some of his mates got together and went and sorted these blokes out." If these blokes get sorted out and that's the end of it then I say, good job.

I don't think there was any lack of disipline involved here. This is the only way this thing is going to be taken care of. If these people can't keep a handle on their own, then they have to expect we will do it for them.

These wormy little cowards go around gang raping women, beating up people they can isolate, and generally terrorizing the places they've been allowed to immigrate to. If they can't teach their own proper behavior, then we have to do it for them. If they don't like it, they can leave.

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